Woodstock: Photos From the Legendary 1969 Rock Festival SHARE LIFE.com presents photographs -- many of which never ran in LIFE magazine -- from the rain-soaked days and nights at Woodstock in 1969. The original plan was for an outdoor rock festival, “three days of peace and music” in the Catskill village of Woodstock. What the young promoters got was the third largest city in New York state, population 400,000 (give or take 100,000), location Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near the town of White Lake. So began LIFE magazine’s description, in its August 29, 1969 issue, of what has come to be seen as one of the defining events of the 1960s. Forty-four years later, LIFE.com presents a gallery of pictures—many of which never ran in the magazine—from those heady, rain-soaked days and nights. Lured by music [the story in LIFE continued] and some strange kind of magic (“Woodstock? Doesn’t Bob Dylan live in Woodstock?”), young people from all over the U.S. descended on the rented 600-acre farm.

It was a real city, with life and death and babies—two were born during the gathering—and all the urban problems of water supply, food, sanitation and health. Drugs, too, certainly, because so many of its inhabitants belong to the drug culture. Counting on only 50,000 customers a day, the organizer had set up a fragile, unauthoritarian system to deal with them. Overrun, strained to its limits, the system somehow, amazingly, didn’t break. For three days nearly half a million people lived elbow to elbow in the most exposed, crowded, rain-drenched, uncomfortable kind of community and there wasn’t so much as a fist fight. For those who passed through it, Woodstock was less a music festival than a total experience, a phenomenon, a happening, high adventure, a near disaster and, in s a small way, a struggle for survival. Casting an apprehensive eye over the huge throng on opening day, Friday afternoon, a festival official announced, “There are a hell of a lot of us here. If we are going to make it, you had better remember that the guy next to you is your brother.” Everybody remembered. Woodstock made it.

One of the LIFE photographers on scene during the festival, John Dominis, summed up his own recollections of Woodstock this way: “I really had a great time.,” Dominis told LIFE.com, decades after the fact. “I was much older than those kids, but I felt like I was their age. They smiled at me, offered me pot. . . . You didn’t expect to see a bunch of kids so nice; you’d think they’d be uninviting to an older person. But no—they were just great! “I worked at LIFE for 25 years,” Dominis said, “and worked everywhere and saw everything, and I’ve told people every year since Woodstock happened that it was one of the greatest events I ever covered.” Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk . Woodstock Music | History The History of Woodstock Woodstock Music Festival August 15-16-17-18, 1969 In August 1969, the most celebrated music festival in history took place.

At a time when Americans were deeply divided, nearly 500,000 people from across the country gathered to celebrate “Three Days of Peace and Music.” The three days of legendary performances, unimaginable mud, and unforgettable experiences helped the Woodstock Music and Art Fair become a symbol of an entire generation, and made Woodstock a name known all over the world. Woodstock History Background The Town of Woodstock – established in 1787 – is located in New York State, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of New York City. It is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of the City of Kingston, which is situated on the Hudson River. Woodstock played host to a number of painters of the Hudson River School in the late 1800’s. In 1902, the Arts and Crafts Movement came to Woodstock. Ever since then Woodstock has been considered an active artists colony. From 1915 through 1931 Hervey White’s Maverick Art Colony held the Maverick Festivals, “in which hundreds of free spirits gathered each summer for music, art, theater and drunken orgies in the woods.

A series of Woodstock Soundouts were staged on the outskirts of the town from 1967 to 1970. These events featured folk and rock acts like Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield and Van Morrison. Together with the area’s reputation as an arts center, these inspired the original Woodstock Festival’ organizers to plan their concert in the town. The Organizers of Woodstock The Woodstock Festival was organized by four young men: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield, and Mike Lang. The oldest of the four was only 27 years old at the time of the Woodstock Festival. Roberts – an heir to a pharmaceutical fortune – and his friend Rosenman were looking for a way to use Roberts’ money to invest in an idea that would make them even more money. After placing an ad in the New York Times that stated: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions,” they met Kornfield and Lang. The Plan for the Woodstock Festival Kornfield and Lang’s original proposal was to build a recording studio and retreat for rock musicians up in Woodstock, New York (where Bob Dylan and other musicians already lived).

The idea morphed into creating a two-day rock concert for 50,000 people with the hope that the concert would raise enough money to pay for the studio. The four young men then went to work organizing a large music festival. They found a location for the event in an industrial park in nearby Wallkil, New York. However, this location was rejected by the town fathers, so the organizers finally settled for a 600 acre dairy farm location in Bethel, New York. They printed tickets ($7 for one day. $13 for two days, and $18 for three days), which could be purchased in select stores or via mail order. They also worked on organizing food, signing musicians, and hiring security. Despite all the organizer’s challenges, the Woodstock Festival got started nearly on time. On Friday evening, August 15 TH, Richie Havens went on stage and officially opened the Festival. Sweetwater, Joan Baez, and other folk artists also played that night. The music resumed again shortly after noon on Saturday with Quill, and went on non-stop until Sunday morning around 9:00 AM.

The day of psychedelic bands went on with such musicians as Santana, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and The Who, as well as others. By Sunday, it was obvious that the festival was winding down. Most of the crowd left that day, leaving about 150,000 people on Sunday night. Jimi Hendrix, the last musician to play at Woodstock, finished his set on Monday morning. By then the crowd was down to about 25,000 people. Thus, the most popular musical event in history ended. Yes, history was made that weekend by a concert that was heard around the world, and Woodstock became a name known around the world. © 2011 Woodstock Music. All Rights Reserved. What Happened in 1969 inc.

Pop Culture, Prices Significant Events, Key Technology and Inventions How Much things cost in 1969 Yearly Inflation Rate USA 5.46 % Yearly Inflation Rate UK 5.6% Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 800 Average Cost of new house $15,550.00 Average Income per year $8,550.00 Average Monthly Rent $135.00 Average Cost New Car $3,270.00 Toyota Corona $1,950.00 Gas per Gallon 35 cents Alarm Clock from Westclox $9.98 Below are some Prices for UK guides in Pounds Sterling Average House Price 4,640 Gallon of Petrol 6 shillings 2 pence or 31 new pence 1969 1969 On July 20th one of mans crowning achievements occurred when American Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon and uttered the immortal words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." .

The opposition to the war continued to increase with more and more attending anti war demonstrations and demanding that the US withdrew from Vietnam. The music came from groups including the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and the Beatles and the most famous music festival of modern times "WOODSTOCK" took place on a New York Farm on August 17th with more than 400,000 avid music fans attending to see the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash and Young and others perform live. fashions reflected the anti war sentiment with military jackets adorned with peace signs, and other trends including long unkempt wild hair and headbands showed the feelings of anti establishment felt by the youth. Moon Landing The first man is landed on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission by the United States and Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon. and the famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." will become part of our history More Information and Timeline For The First Man On The Moon 1.

1961 May 25th President Kennedy asks Congress for $531 million to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade 2. 1963 June 16th Russians put the first woman in space on the Vostok 6 3. 1965 March 18th First space walk by the Russian cosmonaut Alexey Leonov from the Voskhod 2 4. 1966 March 16th first docking of two spacecraft Gemini 8 Commanded by Neil Armstrong docks with unmanned Agena Target Vehicle 5. 1968 December 24th Apollo 8, was the first human space flight to leave Earth orbit and enter a different orbit around the moon. 6. 1969 July 16th Apollo 11 Launched from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 in Merritt Island, Florida carrying Neil A. Armstrong ( Commander ) Michael Collins ( Command Module Pilot ) and Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin, Jr. ( Lunar Module Pilot ) 7. July 19th Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. 8.

July 20th Lunar module (LM) Eagle ( Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" E. Aldrin, Jr. ) separated from the command module Columbia ( Michael Collins ) . 9. July 20th Lunar module (LM) Eagle lands on the moons surface in the Sea of Tranquillity 10. july 21st Neil Armstrong stepped off Eagle's footpad and uttered his famous line "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind " Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin joined him, describing the view as "Magnificent desolation." 11. July 21st Lunar module (LM) Eagle leaves the moons surface to rendezvous with Columbia 12. July 24th The command module Columbia carrying the 3 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Estimates put the number who watched or listened to the Moon landing between 1/2 and 1 billion people around the world ( From Webmaster I consider myself privileged to have watched and listened to Neil A. Armstrong's famous words "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind " ) .

For Information for the Space Race 1961 , The second manned moon mission, Apollo 12, successfully launches and lands on the moon. More Information and Timeline for Apollo 12 Apollo 12, the second manned moon mission, launched on November 14th of 1969 carrying astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon Jr. The mission successfully landed on the Moon on November 19th about 950 miles away from where the Apollo 11 mission had landed. The mission's objectives included seismic experiments, examining the Surveyor III spacecraft, studying possible future landing sites, and human ability to work on the moon, among many other things. The crew tried to broadcast parts the mission but the television camera was damaged by sun exposure soon after landing. The crew left on November 20th and got to Earth on November 24th, after having spent about 31 hours on the surface of the moon.

Significant Live Music Events in 1969 Woodstock attracts more than 350,000 rock-n-roll fans, Atlanta International Pop Festival on 4th July attracts 100,000 fans, Isle of Wight Festival attracted an audience of approximately 150,000 More Information and Timeline For Significant Music Events in 1969 1. January 30th The Beatles, with Billy Preston, gave their final live performance on the roof of the Apple building in London, England, the live performance was an impromptu event that ran for 42 minutes featuring Get Back, I Want You (She's So Heavy), Don't Let Me Down, I've Got A Feeling, One After 909, Danny Boy, Dig A Pony, God Save The Queen and A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody later featured as the climax of their Let It Be film 2.

March 25th to March 31st Following The Marriage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on March 20th in Gibralta they hold a week-long Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel inviting the world's press into their hotel room every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m 3. July 4th Atlanta International Pop Festival attracted an audience of approximately 100,000 to watch 16 performers including Janis Joplin, Johnny Rivers, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Canned Heat, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sweetwater and Led Zeppelin 4.

August 15th to 18th The Woodstock Festival attracted an audience of approximately 500,000 to watch 35 performers including Ravi Shankar, Joan Baez, Santana, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band, Sly & the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, The Band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jimi Hendrix at White Lake, New York, U.S.A. 5. August 30th and 31st Isle of Wight Festival attracted an audience of approximately 150,000 to watch 26 performers including Bob Dylan, The Who, Blonde On Blonde, Joe Cocker, The Moody Blues and Free at Wootton, Isle Of Wight, England 6.

September 13th Toronto Rock and Roll Revival attracted an audience of approximately 20,000 to watch 20 performers including Chicago, Alice Cooper, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Doug Kershaw and The Doors, Screaming Lord Sutch and John Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band at at Varsity Stadium, of the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada 7. December 6th Altamont Speedway Free Festival attracted an audience of approximately 300,000 to watch 10 performers including The Rolling Stones, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at Altamont Speedway, California, U.S.A. The concert is best known for having been marred by considerable violence caused by alcahol and drugs including by the Hells Angels motorcycle club who were used for security round the stage.

1969 provided so many significant live music events that I thought they should be included in a Music Timeline for the year, I hope you enjoyed taking the trip in time and memories that the timeline provides United Kingdom -- Beatles "Abbey Road" The Beatles record Abbey Road, their final album together. More Information and Timeline for The Beatles Abbey Road The Beatles release Abbey Road on September 26th. Abbey Road was not the group's final album to be released to the public but it was their final album to be recorded together. The classic album's cover art featured the iconic photograph of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison walking across a zebra crossing near the entrance to the famous Abbey Road recording studio. This rock album featured such popular songs as "Here Comes the Sun," "Come Together," "Something," and "Oh! Darling." The full track listing includes: Come Together, Something, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Octopus's Garden, I Want You, Here Comes the Sun, Because, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr.

Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End, Her Majesty It also topped the charts around the world once released, staying in the UK and US charts for over 80 weeks. While there were initially mixed reviews about the album, many fans believe it to be the best the band had ever produced and it remains one of the top selling Beatles albums of all time. The first communications are sent through the ARPANET on October 29th, 1969. More Information and Timeline for the ARPANET 1. ARPA (Advance Research Projects Agency) was created in 1958 2. In 1966 the creation of the ARPA computer network, or ARPANET, began. 3. The first point of the ARPANET was installed at a computer in UCLA in September of 1969 4. In October, the second point was installed at a computer in the Stanford Research Institute. 5. The first communication between the two is sent and received across the new network on October 29th, 1969. 6.

After that, it is installed at several other universities across the United States. 7. ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, was not demonstrated to the public until 1972 8. By 1989 the ARPANET had become somewhat obsolete and was shut down. Project ( Blue Book ) The U.S. Air Force closed its Project ( Blue Book ) concluding there was no evidence of UFO's. More Information and Timeline for Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book, the United States Air Force's investigation into unidentified flying objects (UFOs), officially comes to an end on December 17, 1969. The investigations began in 1952 when government officials started to collect information related to UFO sightings. Between 1952 and 1969, there were over 12,000 reports compiled by officials and of those reports all but 701 cases were identified as either an atmospheric, astronomical, or man-made event. The project concluded that UFOs did not threaten national security and did not present evidence of extraterrestrial life or technology and the US government decided that it would be far to costly to continue to investigate UFO sightings.

Police forces in the United States crack down on student protests Popular Culture 1969 A free concert organized by the Rolling Stones is held at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif with problems caused by the use of Hells Angels as Bouncers resulting in a number of deaths The Groundbreaking TV programme Monty Python's Flying Circus is shown for the first time and the catch phrase "And now for something completely different," becomes their trade mark Sesame Street known for its Muppet characters, makes it's debut on PBS Bell Bottom Jeans and tie-dye shirts become part of the teenage fashion scene. The John Lennon Album "Two Virgins" featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the nude are confiscated at Newark Airport The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. The Beatles release their album Abbey Road. bringing the 1960's to an end Sesame Street debuts on Public Television Brian Jones Former Rolling Stones Guitarist drowns after drinking and drugs binge.

Popular Films First Concorde test flight is conducted In France First transplant of human eye Seiko sells the first Quartz Watch The Harrier Jump Jet enters service with the RAF The Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) is founded The first automatic teller machine ATM or Cash Machine is installed in the United States Creation of ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carried 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle to New York City. UNIX is developed by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am the epitome of the American muscle car is introduced.

The Microprocessor ( a miniature set of integrated circuits ) is invented opening the way for the computer revolution that followed Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use ) Internet USA US military Manned Moon Landing USA Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on Moon CCDs USA Charge Coupled Device - to capture image Cash Dispenser Turkey by Luther Simjian Battery Powered Smoke Detector USA Australia -- Prime Minister -- John Gorton -- Brazil -- President -- Costa e Silva -- Till 31 August Brazil -- President -- Military Joint Tri -- From 31 August Brazil -- President -- Military Joint Tri -- Till 30 October Brazil -- President -- Emilio Medici -- From 30 October Canada -- Prime Minister -- Pierre Trudeau -- China -- Chairman of the People's Republic of China -- Song Qingling -- France -- President -- Charles de Gaulle -- Till 28 April France -- President -- Georges Pompidou -- From 20 June Germany -- Chancellor -- Kurt Georg Kiesinger -- Till 21 October Germany -- Chancellor -- Willy Brandt -- From 21 October India -- Prime Minister -- Indira Gandhi -- Italy -- Prime Minister -- Mariano Rumor -- Japan -- Prime Minister -- Eisaku Sato -- Mexico -- President -- Gust

avo Diaz Ordaz -- Russia / Soviet Union -- First Secretary of the CPSU -- Leonid Brezhnev -- South Africa -- Prime Minister -- Balthazar Johannes Vorster -- United States -- President -- Lyndon B.

Johnson -- Till January 20, United States -- President -- Richard Nixon -- From January 20, United Kingdom -- Prime Minister -- Harold Wilson -- LiveLeak.com - Santana – SOUL SACRIFICE – Woodstock Music Festival, August, 1969 (TRT: 9:37) Browse Channels Santana – SOUL SACRIFICE – Woodstock Music Festival, August, 1969 (TRT: 9:37) Blistering live version of the Santana classic, Soul Sacrifice. A drummer’s/percussionist’s dream! Michael Shrieve was the original drummer with Santana, at the age of (just turned) 20 (born July 6, 1949) and was the youngest performer at Woodstock. Carlos himself was only 22 at the time of this legendary event. More info here: The triple screen camera work/production and all was quite avant garde for its time. Woodstock, the 1970 documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York.

The film was directed by Michael Wadleigh and was edited by (amongst others) Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker; Schoonmaker was nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing. It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature, as well as a nominati Loading the player ... The Official 60's Site-Woodstock Rock Festival Cancelled appearances The Jeff Beck Group was scheduled to perform at Woodstock, but failed to make an appearance due to the band's break-up the week before. Iron Butterfly was stuck at an airport, and their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them. They were wired back and told, as impolitely as Western Union would allow, "to get lost", but in other 'words'. Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, but refused to be filmed; by his own report, Young felt the filming was distracting both performers and audience from the music. Young's "Sea of Madness," heard on the album, was actually recorded a month after the festival at the Fillmore East dance hall.

Joni Mitchell was slated to perform but her agent informed her that it was more important that she appear on "The Dick Cavett Show" on Monday, with its national audience, rather than "sit around in a field with 500 people." Ironically, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jefferson Airplane (who both performed at the festival) also made it to the show. She wrote and recorded the song "Woodstock" that was also a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and was recorded by Richie Havens on his 2004 album Grace of the Sun. Ethan Brown was a solo guitarist highly admired by the 'hippie' youth, but he was arrested three days before the festival on LSD related charges. He is known best for his earlier childhood friendship with The Doors piano player, Ray Manzarek. Canadian band Lighthouse was originally scheduled to play at Woodstock, but in the end they decided not to, fearing that it would be a bad scene. Later, several members of the group would say that they regretted the decision. Mind Garage declined for various reasons but one of the primary reasons is that the band had agreed to a paid gig in Cleveland.

Had they known that many of their friends were playing at this concert they would have attended. Read the entire story by clicking here. Refused Invitations The promoters contacted John Lennon, requesting for The Beatles to perform. Lennon said that he couldn't get the Beatles, but offered to play with his Plastic Ono Band. The promoters turned this down. The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but cancelled at the last moment. Contrary to popular belief that this was related in some fashion to lead singer Jim Morrison's arrest for indecent exposure while performing earlier that year, the cancellation was most likely due to Morrison's known and vocal distaste for performing in large outdoor venues.[2] There also was a widely spread legend that Morrison, in a fit of paranoia, was fearful that someone would take a shot at him while he was onstage Drummer John Densmore attended and can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set. Led Zeppelin were asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating "We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our US promoter, Frank Barcelona.

I said no because at Woodstock we'd have just been another band on the bill." "Led Zeppelin: The Concert Files", Lewis & Pallett, 1997, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0.7119.5307.4 Jethro Tull refused to perform, claiming that it wouldn't be a big deal. The Moody Blues for unknown reasons declined to perform. They later regretted not performing. They were however promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that stated the site being Wallkill. Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation to perform at Woodstock, which they later regretted. Lead singer Tommy James stated later, "We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, 'Yeah, listen, there's this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.' That's how it was put to me. So we passed, and we realized what we'd missed a couple of days later." The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so after a melee during their performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival earlier that summer.

Paul Revere & The Raiders declined to perform. They later regretted. Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, however he had to pull out as his son was taken ill. He also was unhappy about the number of the hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site. He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention Quote: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down" - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century," U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995. Woodstock Trivia Jimi Hendrix's E-string broke when he was playing Red House and played the rest of the song with five strings, which was a remarkable feat. John Sebastian wasn't originally scheduled to perform. He was enlisted to perform when several of the acts were late in arriving due to the traffic going to the festival. Richie Havens's song "Freedom" was totally improvised.

He was called back for so many encores that he ran out of songs to sing, so he just picked up his guitar and started singing "Freedom." The song includes lyrics from the Negro spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." Country Joe McDonald wasn't scheduled to perform the first day. He was forced into it because many of the acts that were scheduled to perform that day hadn't arrived yet. He also performed on Day Three with the rest of The Fish. A 20-year-old man named Stephen Victor Tallarico (later known as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith) attended the festival. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young almost didn't perform at the festival. The helicopter that Graham Nash and the group's drummer Dallas Taylor were on was less than 25 feet off the ground when the tail rotor failed and it began to spin. The helicopter almost crashed and Nash and Taylor were almost killed. Michael Lang once said that his original idea was to have Roy Rogers close the festival by singing "Happy Trails." The character named "Woodstock" from Peanuts was named for the festival Ny Times Article In Memory of Woodstock " A Birth of a Generation" Did you attend the "Original" Woodstock concert?

If so I would like to hear from you and your experience while attending. Write to me at webmaster@the60sofficialsite.com Interesting Woodstock 1969 Facts We specialize in writing high quality academic papers in shortest periods of time! 1. Place your custom order 2. Our writers do your paper 3. We check its quality level 4. The paper is sent to you Interesting Woodstock 1969 Facts Who could have estimated that an ordinary music festival could become such a legendary and iconic landmark of the 1960's? The 1969 Woodstock Festival was a three-day music festival, complete with the utter indulgence of free love, drugs, and rock 'n roll. This signpost of hippie counterculture was originally just supposed to be a three-day summer music festival in August 1969 on a dairy farm just outside of White Lake, New York. It was the brain child of 4 very young men, the oldest being just 27 years old at the time. Lets take a closer look at this legendary festival and its story to learn some fascinating facts from Woodstock 69 history. Who was Behind Woodstock?

The story began with two new partners came up with an idea to build a recording studio and a sanctuary or hideaway for rock musicians up in Woodstock in New York. As Woodstock was already home to some famous rockers like Bob Dylan, it was decided that the location would be absolutely perfect. They needed to raise extra funding to pay for the retreat, so they decided to host a rock festival over a weekend for 50,000 people. The Woodstock Festival Plan is Born The two new partners came up with an idea to build a recording studio and a sanctuary or hideaway for rock musicians up in Woodstock in New York. As Woodstock was already home to some famous rockers like Bob Dylan, it was decided that the location would be absolutely perfect. They needed to raise extra funding to pay for the retreat, so they decided to host a rock festival over a weekend for 50,000 people. They looked for locations and found a suitable one in an industrial park in Wallkill, New York. They printed tickets with different prices for one day, two days, and three days in total.

They started organizing the catering, getting security teams together, and started signing up a line-up of rock 'n roll stars to take center stage. Things Fall Apart Just when the organizers thought they had found their ideal location, the residents of Wallkill became incensed. They disliked the idea of having a bunch of wasted hippies at a music festival descending on their town. Consequently, the four organizers and their lawyers lost their fight for the venue when the town of Wallkill passed a law in July 1969 completely banning the concert. With just a month and a half to go until the concert, they had lost their venue. Following this signifigant setback, ticket vendors refused to continue selling tickets, musicians pulled out, and what started out as a brilliant idea was falling apart right before their eyes. But at the last minute, dairy farmer Max Yasgur offered his 600 acre dairy farm as a new venue for the Woodstock festival. Woodstock Keeps on Truckin' Without wasting time, contracts were drawn up, permits were acquired, and permission was granted from everyone in the surrounding areas and towns.

After they gained all the proper paperwork, they had to build a stage, parking lots, concession stands, a pavilion for performers and a children's playground. They managed to finish everything in the nick of time but they didn't finish the gates or ticket booths in time. The organizers seriously under-estimated the number of concert goers. Last Minute Problems As things just started coming together, last minute panic ensued. The biggest problem being that the numbers had catapulted from 50,000 festival goers to a whopping 200,000. They needed to get extra food vendors, water, and medical facilities in a serious hurry. Food vendors were pulling out because the organizers had, in their ignorance, hired vendors with absolutely no concession experience. And as if that wasn't bad enough, a last minute ban prevented off-duty policemen from working the festival. These were all setbacks that the organizers didn't need. The Festival Proceeds 50,000 people had already arrived early and were camping around the stage before the organizers could build gates or ticket booths. The organizers realized at this point that they had completely lost control even before the concert started.

They were left with no choice but to declare the concert free, which in hindsight rendered disastrous results. Chaos Ensues Word spread that the concert was now free and, as a result, people started pouring into Bethel onto Max Yagur's field. More than 1 million people arrived and around 500,000 people actually made it to the concert. Highways turned into parking lots, vehicles were being abandoned, and the organizers had to hire last-minute helicopters to get the performers to and from the stage. The incredible lineup of big rock 'n roll names at Woodstock included Janis Joplin, Santana, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead. The concert was a rip-roaring success that was not dampened by heavy rains or by thirty-minute lines for water, sustenance, and medical care. The biggest music event in history was eventually made into a movie that raked in plenty of money for the organizers who, after the festival, found themselves in a mountain of debt. Are you looking for an essay on this topic? Our writers will be glad to help by providing you a custom-written paper with your specific requirements.

Woodstock Music Festival concludes - Aug 17, 1969 - HISTORY.com Woodstock Music Festival concludes Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1969, the grooviest event in music history–the Woodstock Music Festival–draws to a close after three days of peace, love and rock ‘n’ roll in upstate New York. Conceived as “Three Days of Peace and Music,” Woodstock was a product of a partnership between John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang. Their idea was to make enough money from the event to build a recording studio near the arty New York town of Woodstock. When they couldn’t find an appropriate venue in the town itself, the promoters decided to hold the festival on a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York–some 50 miles from Woodstock–owned by Max Yasgur. By the time the weekend of the festival arrived, the group had sold a total of 186,000 tickets and expected no more than 200,000 people to show up. By Friday night, however, thousands of eager early arrivals were pushing against the entrance gates.

Fearing they could not control the crowds, the promoters made the decision to open the concert to everyone, free of charge. Close to half a million people attended Woodstock, jamming the roads around Bethel with eight miles of traffic. Soaked by rain and wallowing in the muddy mess of Yasgur’s fields, young fans best described as “hippies” euphorically took in the performances of acts like Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Who performed in the early morning hours of August 17, with Roger Daltrey belting out “See Me, Feel Me,” from the now-classic album Tommy just as the sun began to rise. The most memorable moment of the concert for many fans was the closing performance by Jimi Hendrix, who gave a rambling, rocking solo guitar performance of “The Star Spangled Banner.” With not enough bathroom facilities and first-aid tents to accommodate such a huge crowd, many described the atmosphere at the festival as chaotic.

There were surprisingly few episodes of violence, though one teenager was accidentally run over and killed by a tractor and another died from a drug overdose. A number of musicians performed songs expressing their opposition to the Vietnam War, a sentiment that was enthusiastically shared by the vast majority of the audience. Later, the term “Woodstock Nation” would be used as a general term to describe the youth counterculture of the 1960s. A 25th anniversary celebration of Woodstock took place in 1994 in Saugerties, New York. Known as Woodstock II, the concert featured Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills and Nash as well as newer acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Green Day. Held over another rainy, muddy weekend, the event drew an estimated 300,000 people. Related Videos WOODSTOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was a rock festival held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 kmï¿½) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18, 1969.

For many, it exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era". Many of the best-known musicians of the time appeared during the rainy weekend, captured in a successful 1970 movie, Woodstock. Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Though attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original Woodstock festival of 1969 has proven to be unique and legendary. The festival The festival bears the name "Woodstock", because it was to take place in the town of Woodstock, in Ulster County; however, the town offered no appropriate site to host such a large event due to their belief that over a million people would attend. A site was found in the town of Wallkill. When local opposition arose, the event was almost cancelled, but Sam Yasgur persuaded his father Max to allow the concert to be held on the family's alfalfa field, located in Sullivan County, about 40 miles southwest of Woodstock.

Although the show had been planned for a maximum of 200,000 attendees, over 500,000 eventually attended, most of whom did not pay admission. The highways leading to the concert were jammed with traffic. People abandoned their cars and walked for miles to the concert area. The weekend was rainy, facilities were overcrowded, and attendees shared food, alcoholic beverages, and drugs. Local residents of this modest tourist-oriented area (including those at nearby Camp Ma-Ho-Ge), gave blankets and food to some concertgoers. The festival did not initially make money for the promoters, although through record sales and proceeds from the highly regarded film of the event it did eventually become profitable. Three people died at Woodstock: one from a heroin overdose, one from being run over by a tractor while sleeping in a nearby hayfield, and one from falling off a scaffold. Two unconfirmed births reportedly occurred as well. Among the stars of Woodstock were The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Due to arguments with the promoters about their pay, The Who did not take stage until about 4:00 in the morning.

One highlight of The Who's performance was "See Me, Feel Me", when the sun rose just as lead singer Roger Daltrey began to sing the chorus. At one point during The Who's set, political activist Abbie Hoffman interrupted the show and attempted to rally the crowd with yippie slogans, but was knocked off the stage by the swinging guitar of the band's leader, Pete Townshend, to the delight of the audience. At the conclusion of the set, Townshend slammed his guitar into the stage and threw it into the crowd. This moment helped establish the band as superstars and boosted their album Tommy to multi- platinum sales. Jimi Hendrix had a big impact with his performance, including an alternative version of "The Star Spangled Banner". The song was somewhat controversial, as the Vietnam War was underway and the sound effects that Hendrix generated with his guitar paralleled the sounds of the violence of the conflict. These two performances are held by fans as some of the greatest in rock history, though both The Who and Hendrix considered them sub-par. Woodstock's promoters were Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman.

Roberts was the financer, backed by a trust fund bankroll; his friend Rosenman, a graduate of Yale Law, was an amateur guitarist. Their associates were Kornfeld, a vice-president at Capitol Records, and Michael Lang. An unlikely businessman, Lang was a light-hearted hippie who had owned a head shop and hoped to build a recording studio in the Woodstock area to serve artists such as Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, who had homes nearby. When Lang and Kornfeld presented the idea to Rosenman and Roberts, Rosenman hatched the idea of a rock concert with the same performing artists. After toying with an Age of Aquarius theme, they settled on the slogan "Three Days of Peace and Music", partly as a way to placate suspicious local officials and partly to appeal to anti-war sentiment. They hired commercial artist Arnold Skolnick to design the artwork, which incorporated a catbird design. Lang would go on to produce successor concerts in 1994 and 1999, but did not participate in the Woodstock-named concerts of 1979 and 1989. Drugs were commonly used and available at Woodstock.

LSD and marijuana use was common throughout the festival. A young twenty-year old named Stephen Victor Tallarico (aka Steven Tyler of Aerosmith) showed up in the crowd as a fan. In 1997, the site of the concert and 1,400 surrounding acres was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. It opened on July 1st, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young wowed 16,000 fans at the new Center ï¿½ exactly 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock. Myths, realities, and the legacy of Woodstock Woodstock has been romanticized and idealized in American popular culture as the culmination of the hippie movement ï¿½ a free festival where nearly 500,000 people came together to celebrate peace and love. Although the festival was remarkably trouble-free given the number of people and conditions involved, the reality was less than perfect.

Woodstock did have some amount of crime and other misbehavior, as well as a fatality from a drug overdose, an accidental death caused by an occupied sleeping bag being run over by a tractor, and one participant died from falling off a scaffold. There were also 3 miscarriages and 2 births recorded at the festival as well, and logistical headaches. Furthermore, because Woodstock was not intended for such a large crowd, there were not enough facilities such as toilets and first-aid tents. There was some profiteering in the sale of "electric Kool-Aid". Woodstock began as a profit-making venture; it only became a free festival after it became obvious that the concert was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had prepared for, and that the entry gates erected had been torn down by eager arrivals. Tickets for the event (sold in 1969) cost US$18 to buy a ticket in advance (which would be US$95.58 in 2005 with inflation factored in) and $24 to buy a ticket at the gate for all three days.

Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a Post Office Box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan. Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes. The Abbie Hoffman incident Abbie Hoffman interrupted The Who's performance during Woodstock 1969 to attempt a protest speech against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. He grabbed a microphone and yelled, "I think this is a pile of shit! While John Sinclair rots in prison ...". The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, unhappy with the interruption, cut Hoffman off mid-sentence, snarling, "Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar, sending him tumbling offstage. Townshend later said he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, though he made the point that he would have knocked him offstage regardless of his message.

According to Hoffman, in his autobiography, the incident played out like this: "If you ever heard about me in connection with the festival it was not for playing Florence Nightingale to the flower children. What you heard was the following: 'Oh, him, yeah, didn't he grab the microphone, try to make a speech when Peter Townshend cracked him over the head with his guitar?' I've seen countless references to the incident, even a mammoth mural of the scene. What I've failed to find was a single photo of the incident. Why? Because it didn't really happen." "I grabbed the microphone all right and made a little speech about John Sinclair, who had just been sentenced to ten years in the Michigan State Penitentiary for giving two joints of grass to two undercover cops, and how we should take the strength we had at Woodstock home to free our brothers and sisters in jail. Something like that. Townshend, who had been tuning up, turned around and bumped into me. A nonincident really.

Hundreds of photos and miles of film exist depicting the events on that stage, but none of this much-talked about scene." A fifteen-second soundbyte of the incident can be heard on The Who compilation set entitled Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2). Refused invitations The promoters contacted John Lennon, requesting for The Beatles to perform. Lennon said that he couldn't get the Beatles, but offered to play with his Plastic Ono Band. The promoters turned this down. The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but cancelled at the last moment. Contrary to popular belief that this was related in some fashion to lead singer Jim Morrison's arrest for indecent exposure while performing earlier that year, the cancellation was most likely due to Morrison's known and vocal distaste for performing in large outdoor venues. There also was a widely spread legend that Morrison, in a fit of paranoia, was fearful that someone would take a shot at him while he was onstage. Drummer John Densmore attended and can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set. Led Zeppelin were asked to perform, but refused after they were offered a gig with higher pay.

The band later deeply regretted not performing, a possible reason why they accepted an offering at the Texas Pop Festival, held a short time after. Jethro Tull refused to perform, claiming that it wouldn't be a big deal. The Moody Blues for unknown reasons declined to perform. They later regretted not performing. They were however promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that stated the site being Wallkill. Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation to perform at Woodstock, which they later regretted. Lead singer Tommy James stated later, "We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii , and my secretary called and said, 'Yeah, listen, there's this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.' That's how it was put to me. So we passed, and we realized what we'd missed a couple of days later." The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so after a melee during their performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival earlier that summer. Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, however he had to pull out as his son was taken ill.

He also was unhappy about the number of the hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site. He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival several weeks later. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention Quote: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down" - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century", U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995. The film A documentary film, Woodstock, directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by Martin Scorsese, was released in 1970. It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. In 1994, the "director's cut" was released; it included performances by Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin, who were not in the original version of the film. Woodstock today Today a plaque stands commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remains preserved and well kept in its rural Upstate New York setting.

A concert hall has been erected up the hill, and the field at the old Yasgur farm is still visited by people of all generations. A new Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts opened on the site in July 2006. A new interpretive center dedicated to the Woodstock Festival and its meaning is targeted to open by mid-2008 Trivia John Sebastian wasn't originally scheduled to perform. He was enlisted to perform when several of the acts were late in arriving due to the traffic going to the festival. Richie Haven's song "Freedom" was totally improvised. He was called for so many encores that he ran out of songs to sing, so he just picked up his guitar and started singing "Freedom". Country Joe McDonald wasn't scheduled to perform the first day. He was forced into it because many of the acts that were scheduled to perform that day hadn't arrived yet. He also performs on day three with the rest of The Fish. Then New York governor Nelson Rockefeller threatened to send the national guard troops to break up the festival when he saw how huge the crowd was. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young almost didn't perform at the festival.

The helicopter that Graham Nash and the group's drummer Dallas Taylor were on was less than 25 feet off the ground when the tail rotor failed and it began to spin. The helicopter almost crashed and Nash and Taylor were almost killed. Michael Lang once said that his original idea was to have Roy Rogers close the festival by singing "Happy Trails". The albums Three albums of the concert have been released. The first was officially titled Woodstock: Music From the Original Soundtrack and More. It sold millions of copies and was based on the documentary film. Due to that album's success, a second album, Woodstock 2, was released about a year later. In 1995 a four CD box set titled Woodstock Three Days of Peace and Music was released. It contained all the music from the previous two albums and more, although most of the stage announcements from these albums have been omitted.

Question: Which legendary music festival took place in 1969?
Answer: Woodstock